YYC930

I just got off the phone with my dealer and had the following rumor verified.....it'll be in writing in a day or two.

Effective JULY 1st any and all Porsche products imported to Canada will NO LONGER have ANY WARRANTY coverage whatsoever in Canada.

If an owner wants to pay for repairs themselves they are welcome to do so and "ATTEMPT" to get reimbursement from their selling dealer in the USA...........and said selling dealer is under NO OBLIGATION whatsoever to proceed with nor provide any reimbursement in any way shape or form.

Furthermore, US dealers will not be permitted to sell to Canadian clients and anyone trying after the fact to import a US car to Canada will now be required to also obtain a "COMPLIANCE LETTER" from PCNA.....to be issued at "their" discretion and "your" expense if they even bother replying to you. And if any of you have ever had any experience with FNA or Lambo USA regarding import questions and compliance letters, you'll know what I mean...........

I guess that answers the question as to what Porsche was going to do about the FOREX problem.

Alon

So this is Porsche's answer to the inequity that exists in their US versus Canada pricing?

Pathetic...

Do you have any documentation in writing either in the form of an email, fax, letter, etc? I'd like to publish it in the PCA newsletter.

Does anyone know of any other car manufacturer who would be so arrogant with this type of approach to protect their Canadian business? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for supporting local business and would only buy new locally but for cars that have become rare or simply cars like the 996tt that seem to be, on average, $20k lower in US form versus a Canadian car make a very strong case to import.

jgdixon

I can understand why Porsche is doing this (resale values)
But I can't believe that it would be retroactive. I know alot of people with 2002-2005 cars that have already obtained warranty service. They will be livid!
Also, alot of people already have bought cars and many others would have obtained a late model vehicle because of the recent affordability. This will affect the Canadian dealers service business big time I think.
Has anyone else been able to verify this info?
I have considered buying an American car myself.

theiceman

The Big 3 I have heard have been doing this for a while. I heard the rumors about this last year. In mosy cases the problem is reverse. Americans thirst for expensive cars can not be met so they come here to buy them and take them home,and up until about a year ago was WAY cheaper..

Some interesting reading here:
http://www.naata.org/new%20files/faqs.html

tksingh

wow, a bit heavy handed. Oh well, most Canadians live close to the border and unless it is not driveable, just pop over for warranty work? Granted a big hassle.

Slightly used cars at the dealers also under this ?

YYC930

Alon......

I do not have anything in writing yet, but my dealer said he'd have something next week on paper.

Lots of manufacturer's do this actually.......Porsche just has to say the warranty is only valid in certain places for any number of reasons and it is perfectly legal....not nice....but legal.......

You can always get an aftermarket warranty, but then again it is not the same. And.......I doubt this will be the biggest detriment to buyer's actually......it will be the "compliance letter" issue.......just go to www.riv.ca and look up the Ferrari rules or Mercedes-Benz rules......you're at the mercy of the manufacturer.

tkSingh.....

As for crossing the border.....well.....once the car is exported and the title is recorded and stamped....the manufacturer has already been notified by customs.....it's part of the checking process they do in the 72 hour period prior to you crossing with the car. Once the car is gone.......so is the warranty IMHO......and I doubt that any US dealer would dare try a claim on an exported car.......only to see it bounced back as unpaid by PCNA.

I've been an employee at dealer's too long to know what will happen.....

The only question they could not answer is regarding what model year guidelines will be put on the used cars as far as compliance letters are concerned. Will all cars within 15 years be subject to it like MB and F-cars.......? Who knows......stay tuned to this space and the RIV site I guess......my information is first hand and very reliable.......but only verbal at this stage.

AM993

What does PCNA stands for... Porsche Cars North America... Makes me wonder if Canada is no longer part of North America...

YYC930

Well...........

"Porsche Cars Canada Limited" is the official Porsche sales/service arm here............not PCNA.........

951North

New car warranties are just another form of insurance, personally I perfer someone else take the first few years depreciation and then look for something out of warranty in good shape and well cared for... call me frugal but don't call me cheap!

Jason

pongobaz

Just downloaded the new warranty booklet for the 2006 and this is what it states:

"Warranty Outside the U.S.
If your car is taken to an authorized Porsche automobile dealer outside
the U.S., Porsche Cars N.A.’s warranty will not be applicable and
defective parts will be repaired or replaced only within the terms and
limitations of the warranty for new Porsche vehicles for your model year
in effect in the country where such authorized Porsche automobile
dealers are located."

Seems like it's pretty clear that while the US warranty would no longer be valid, they would have to honour the equivalent CDN warranty in effect when that car was new. I'm in the industry too and it seems very unlikely that PCNA would expose themselves to such a breach of contract with customers; they'd loose every arbitrage hearing on this. I'm sure that this will affect future imported new vehicles and CPO transferability , but probably not existing landed cars.
I'll call PCNA next week to find out more.

Avia2

Porsche's stance up to this point has been that a Porsche customer is a Porsche customer no matter where he bought his car. The FOREX problem is not as easy to solve as bringing the rate down. Canada is a resource based economy and with oil and gas and gold through the roof (hence our dollar being so strong) you can understand Porsche's reluctance to lower the exchange rate. Porsche has been working on a solution for the last 1+ year and there's no simple solution. If you lower the exchange rate and therefore the CDN price here are the issues that are created, 1.) you have unhappy CDN customers who just purchased; 2.) all of the Porsche Financial Services residuals take a hit; 3.) all used and new Porsche inventory that your dealers have in stock is devalued (new cars = rebates), used cars tough luck; and 4.) should the dollar CDN dollar decline against the USD in the near future an even worse export situation will occur than 99-02. Something else to consider is how Porsche buys its currency forward/hedging when developing their cars. Many of their cars were developed and designed using different exchange rates of the past and this is built into the new price.

Rob993

Harley Davidson adjusted for the currency, and yes some of the owners of HDs who bought a few years back were a little upset that 3 years later, the bikes are cheaper. But you know what, no one really cared that much and HDs became more affordable, more bikes, service and sales.
Porsche just might find out the same thing. Remember when the 993's came out. They were cheaper than the 964's they replaced. Nobody had a hissy fit then either.

Rob

YYC930

Avia2......

Porsche is one of the few automakers that DOES NOT hedge currencies. Therein lies part of the problem.

Rob993.....

The reason no one complained about 993's being cheaper than 964's was really simple....in 1994 when the car was introduced Porsche sold about 120 of them in Canada......I know for I did about 20 of those sales personally. Our dollar was at .93 cents then as well........the dealer meeting the year before was interesting too......we were asked outright if we wanted either "cheaper cars" with a lot less standard equipment.....or "loaded" but equally expensive cars.....we took the loaded ones....big mistake.

Zookie

so wate my car is Canadian now if i go on a Road trip to teh US and she breaks down, my car will not be worked on Under Warrenty in the US?

How about if my car is US and my car breaks down in Canada is she still covered?

pongobaz

Zookie,
As I mentioned in my earlier post, I somehow doubt that it will affect previous generation cars. I think they will try to put something in place to stop sales of new and nearly new CPO vehicle from US dealers to CDN customers sold after July 1st; very, very unlikely it can be made retroactive. Otherwise it's plain rediculous and illegal (since it's in the warranty booklet provided with the car and it cannot be altered after the fact). What would happen if you move from one country to another? Would your warranty be useless even though you might be the original owner? If PCNA changes their warranty retroactively for this, what's to stop them from deciding on a whim to reduce the warranty to 1 year/20K AFTER you've just rolled off the lot? That sort of lack of honour and credibility would guarantee that CDN new prices would come down because customers would stay away in droves.
Changes in coverage usually only happen on model year switch over. July 1 makes sense, since '06 buildout probably ends in June like almost all OEMs.